Pailani
05-13-2005, 09:10 AM
I'm in my fourth month of mostly raw, and I've seen some things improve, but not everything. I still have candida that comes and goes (maybe it isn't even candida, it could be allergies or something??) and my digestion seems really whacked out, although, thankfully, the stomach pain I used to have every evening (it felt like knives) is gone unless I eat beans or bread, even Ezekiel bread. I seem to have a 3-day lag with candida symptoms. If I start eating Lara bars or more fruit and nuts, I don't feel it for three days, and then I start itching all over! And, even on a pristine diet, it takes 3 days for the itching to go away. That's made it harder to put it together, because even when I eat well, I don't start feeling better immediately.
It seems like the more I cut out, the better I feel. I used to suspect that food was my problem, that if I could just stop eating altogether, I'd feel a lot better. And, to a certain extent, that does seem to be the case. When I was pregnant, the baby was laying right on my stomach or something so that I only had about a 6 ounce volume. If I ate any more than that, I'd be in excruciating pain the rest of the day. So I ate almost nothing (I made sure it was healthy and dense, lots of nuts) and I felt really good, although my midwife was worried that I wasn't gaining enough weight.
So, I'm thinking that I probably need way, way less food than I think I do. And I think I need to combine better, no more smoothies with eight ingredients and four kinds of fruit. Yesterday I ate a couple of smoothies, just green apples and lettuce, then 2 tomatoes and a cucumber for lunch, and 3 bananas for dinner. Just before bedtime, I had a quarter cup of raw sunflower seeds to keep myself awake at the computer. I'm doing the same today, eating very light, almost no fat. And I feel better than I have in a long time! My stomach feels good, I have my flatter stomach back, and I finally don't feel heavy and weighed down.
I may be one of those people who will only see satisfactory results by doing Doug Graham's 80/10/10 plan. I feel kind of bad that I don't seem to be able to tolerate the really delicious raw foods--the dried fruits, desserts based on fruit and nuts, monster salads, creamy raw soups, fancy smoothies. But I'm willing to give those up if it'll make me feel better.
Sooooo, that's my update.
It seems like the more I cut out, the better I feel. I used to suspect that food was my problem, that if I could just stop eating altogether, I'd feel a lot better. And, to a certain extent, that does seem to be the case. When I was pregnant, the baby was laying right on my stomach or something so that I only had about a 6 ounce volume. If I ate any more than that, I'd be in excruciating pain the rest of the day. So I ate almost nothing (I made sure it was healthy and dense, lots of nuts) and I felt really good, although my midwife was worried that I wasn't gaining enough weight.
So, I'm thinking that I probably need way, way less food than I think I do. And I think I need to combine better, no more smoothies with eight ingredients and four kinds of fruit. Yesterday I ate a couple of smoothies, just green apples and lettuce, then 2 tomatoes and a cucumber for lunch, and 3 bananas for dinner. Just before bedtime, I had a quarter cup of raw sunflower seeds to keep myself awake at the computer. I'm doing the same today, eating very light, almost no fat. And I feel better than I have in a long time! My stomach feels good, I have my flatter stomach back, and I finally don't feel heavy and weighed down.
I may be one of those people who will only see satisfactory results by doing Doug Graham's 80/10/10 plan. I feel kind of bad that I don't seem to be able to tolerate the really delicious raw foods--the dried fruits, desserts based on fruit and nuts, monster salads, creamy raw soups, fancy smoothies. But I'm willing to give those up if it'll make me feel better.
Sooooo, that's my update.